Menu Options and Visibility in the Content authoring form

Drupal has basic functionality which allows you to limit the menu to which a new link can be added through the Menu Settings fields on the Content authoring form.

This is of particular use when you want to only let users add content to a menu of your choosing. A common request is to 'hide the navigation menu' from the content authoring form, and only allow users to add pages to the main menu structure (e.g. Primary links) of the site. This is achievable through Drupal 5, and semi-achievable through Drupal 6.

Drupal 5

Drupal 5 allows you to select either an individual menu to which users can add links to when creating content, or to allow all site menus to be visible.

Look for the Content authoring form settings fieldset at the bottom of the page

Make your selection from the drop-down:

Show all menus (default - will show all of the menus in your site and default to the Navigation menu)

Primary links

Secondary links

Custom Menu 1

Custom Menu 2

...

Click Save configuration

Drupal 6

Drupal 6 allows you to select which of your site menus is selected by default in the content authoring form. All other menus are still visible/accessible within the Menu settings drop-down, but you can shepherd your user to use the menu of choice.